EU provides drought support for Caribbean nations

SANTO DOMINGO – The impact of natural disasters is increasing, despite
countries’ efforts to reduce it. Over the past year, drought has
affected more than 6.2 million people in the Caribbean, especially in
Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
Irregular and insufficient rainfall throughout 2015 has caused loss of
crop and livestock in the region. For the third consecutive year, some
people are facing periods of drought that threaten their livelihood,
with the most vulnerable groups being small producers, day-labourers and
people with no land of their own.
In this context, the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil
Protection department (ECHO) is contributing 13.9 million euros to help
the Caribbean cope with drought in 2016, facilitating access to food and
water, and protecting the livelihoods of more than 429 000 people. The
European Commission has allocated 12.2 million euros of this
contribution to Haiti, 1.1 million euros to the Dominican Republic and
600 000 euros to Cuba.
Additionally, the European Commission continues its commitment to
Disaster Risk Reduction, helping the Caribbean prepare to cope with
future droughts by contributing 2.8 million euros in 2016: 1.5 million
for Haiti, 700 000 for the Dominican Republic and 600 000 for Cuba.
These actions will facilitate the sharing of good practice in the
current response implemented at local level, which can then be
replicated in the future. It is anticipated that around 200 000 people
in the region will be helped during 2016 to 2017.
These contributions are in addition to the more than 9.3 million euros
that the Commission provided for the region for Disaster Preparedness
during 2015 to 2016 through its DIPECHO programme (Disaster
Preparedness, ECHO), with the focus on strengthening local ability to
cope with future disasters. The key areas of intervention for this
programme, which benefits 410 000 people in 12 Caribbean countries,
include the strengthening of early warning systems, earthquake risk
preparedness and information concerning good practice in Disaster Risk
Reduction.
Since 1994, the European Commission has provided the Caribbean with a
total of 509.7 million euros in financial aid. Of this amount, 353.7
million euros have been allocated to Haiti, mainly in response to the
devastating earthquake of 12 January 2010, the fight against the cholera
epidemic, food insecurity and disaster preparedness. The remaining 156
million euros have provided support to the rest of the Caribbean in its
response to emergencies and activities aimed at disaster preparedness. (PR)

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